May 18, 2011

I cannot believe we are leaving Bali next week! I keep having dreams about Berkeley and I already feel part of myself transitioning to that other life of ours. Even though we have another month of travel before we step foot in California, I feel in limbo. I am totally excited to see Bangkok, Greece, and Turkey, but after ten months on the road, I am also happy to be coming home.

I am putting together a few more posts from Indonesia to share with you in the coming weeks. These Sweet Potato Fries are the first...

As I have mentioned before, we are always trying to get creative about snacks for Otis and Lilah, who seem to be having continual growth spurts accompanied by insatiable appetites. A while back, our friend Johnny loaned us this little, light-weight box of an oven that rests on top of our two-burner stove. I thought you might get a kick out of this clever invention.

As you might imagine, we were thrilled to have an oven. We baked many batches of cookies and started regularly roasting veggies for supper. The temp gauge wasn't exactly accurate and some corners of the oven were way hotter than others, so we've had to be pretty flexible about the whole affair. But who cares - we had an oven!

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into french fry-style sticks. Place potato pieces in a bowl and toss with coconut oil and a few pinches of salt to coat.

Scatter fries on a baking sheet (I did some batches using tin foil to cover the baking sheet, but finally gave up on the foil finding it unnecessary.) Place fries in the hot oven. After about 7 or 8 minutes, remove fries and turn them over to insure even cooking on all sides. Bake for a total of 15-20 minutes (depending on thickness of fries) until potatoes are tender and cooked through.

Sprinkle with additional sea salt. Serve. Enjoy!

Okay. Some of my fries are a little burnt, but I am doing the best I can with this funky oven! Otis and Lilah didn't complain at bit.

Anonymous, really good question...Here in Bali, I get a traditional homemade coconut oil made by the older ladies just next door, its consistency is similar to olive oil. In California when I buy organic coconut oil, it is often thicker, more like shortening. If you heat it a bit, it should melt and can easily be used to coat the sweet potatoes. I am also wondering if we can find some of this more liquidy coconut oil in the US. Not sure. I am so addicted to the flavor and aroma of coconut oil, I think I will be using it more and more at home.

I love making home cut & roasted normal potato fries and I love roasting sweet potato in chunks... why did I not think of this! Gorgeous.

I always think that's one of the nicest things about traveling - starting to get excited about coming home. You never believe you will when you leave - it's like magic! Transforms your everyday into something as special as any exotic places around the world.

Wistful sigh...I do love what coconut oil does for food. And I LOVE Sweet Potato Fries. I want to do them Belgian style with coconut oil some time soon. I hate that your on your way back from your vacation!I am still waiting for each and every blog to see where you are, what you are doing, and what you are eating! Sometimes I swear I can smell the food in your pictures.Hope you all have tons of fun!

This might be a silly question, but is the sea salt different in Bali then in California, or is it similar. The looks like coconut shavings in the pictures so I was wondering about the texture and taste. GORGEOUS PHOTOS!

Anonymous, I haven't researched this, though the Balinese sea salt does seem exceptionally flaky, almost powdery soft. The flavor is also nice and mild so you can add a lot of salt. I think there is a big difference in flavor and texture in various sea salts. I am pretty sold on the Balinese stuff - it is fantastic!

I make sweet potato fries almost every day - it's a long story...anyway, I've been tempted to use coconut oil but haven't wanted to stray from what I know works because Sweet Potato fries can be a bit finicky. I'll take your recommendation to the kitchen next time I try them (which will probably be today)

Are you from Berkeley? Lucky you! I am a bay area native myself, and I can't quite decide if I want to live in Berkeley or SF when I grow up. ...and Bali must have been amazing!And your sweet potato fries look delectable.

India.Tea - I am from Berkeley. We've been on the road for a year, and are heading home in 6 weeks. Cannot wait for Berkeley eats. SF is great too. Hard choice;)Anushruti, Jean, and Megan - Thanks so much for the nice comments!

This sounds great! I recently got some Himalayan pink salt and organic peppercorns from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com and I'll have to try them out in this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Hey there Mike, So jealous over here that you have just moved to Bali;) Congrats!

I'm don't know much about the oven since we borrowed it from friends. I think it is called "Hock" and it seemed to be made of aluminum. You could ask my Johnny at Bali Eco Stay, I bet he knows where to get one.

Mike, The oven is called an Easy Bake and costs anywhere from $20 to $40 depending on the size. I have lived in Bali for 23 years and until last year used an Easy Bake for everything including Thanksgiving Turkey. I know this comment is a bit late but I was just turned onto your lovely site, Erin.

Last year I splurged and bought a 'real oven' an Italian beauty called La Germania. It is wonderful and I'm thrilled to have it here in my Ubud kitchen. I write the recipe column, "Food Glorious Food" for the expat paper, 'The Bali Advertiser' so thought it was about time to have an adult oven to cook with.